Forgotten No More
by Alannada
Summary: The crystal runes told him to go to the hot springs today. Was it a good choice? Only time will tell


Summary: The crystal runes told him to go to the hot springs today. Was it a good choice? Only time will tell

A/N: Long story short - I lost Trial by Stone. Hence this story exists. Hope you like it!  
skekEz the Occultist is Lord Yau's skeksis, who I borrow for this story.  
skekFik the Writer is my OC skeksis.  
If you give this story enough love maybe Lord Yau will write more stories about skekEz.

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**Forgotten No More**

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How many trines passed since they were born to this world? After the first couple dozen trines he somewhat stopped caring about the passage of time. It was easier to ignore them and pretend his body was as lithe and graceful as it had been back then.

His stomach was just a tad rounder, nothing more. The ache he sometimes felt while standing up from sitting in an uncomfortable position for too long was nothing to be worried about. His feathers and fur weren't as shiny as they had been, but it was only because he was still trying to find the best product to bring out their colors and splendor.

He walked slowly down a path in the gardens surrounding the Castle. The lush trees and bushes were pleasant to look at, cared for by hosts of Podlings and Gelflings who obviously liked to dig in the dirt. No skeksis lord would lower himself to indulge in such a mundane activity. Dirtying one's painted talons was unbecoming - well, it was acceptable if it was with blood of animals he used for his scrying deep in the woods surrounding the Black River. Well, skekMal was the one who did all the hunting, but it was all skekEz's duty and pride to cut the belly of each and every beast provided by the Hunter, so he could see the future written in the living ink of steaming entrails and blood trickling from the abused flesh. He had to be swift with his readings, because the Hunter was prone to lose patience and steal the tastiest bits of prophecies out of the carcasses.

But now he wasn't going to the dark and wild woods to stumble his way after skekMal between roots and branches, avoiding tree trunks and piles of waste left by Landstriders.

Today, the crystals with sigils etched on them told him to turn his sight in another direction. The soreness in his muscles urged him to follow the advice from the will of fate.

So, today, skekEz the Occultist, the keen listener of the songs of fate, the one who wielded power and knowledge to battle the unknown, was going to soak in a hot spring. And the only hot spring located near the Castle was actually hidden in the vast gardens the lesser beings liked so much. To be perfectly honest, skekEz enjoyed the fauna and flora of Thra as well, but he wouldn't cry over a fallen ninet old tree. Especially if he really needed one of the highest branches of that tree to make a wand that could help him banish a specter haunting a family of Gelfling living near the border of the Dark Wood.

Shortly after the ritual skekMal changed his hunting territory to one deeper within the forest, probably bored. He liked to move his camp, making it hard for others to find him when they needed to see him. Or maybe he was annoyed by the Hunter hunters, the wide spread insane Gelfling who seemed to enjoy tracking him down and then staring at his every move.

It was much easier to find his other allies. skekFik always stuck around the Castle, near the Library. skekEz smirked as he thought about this particular skeksis and his recent bickering with skekOk over the length of time one could take a book out of the Library. According to skekFik it was perfectly acceptable to hold onto a valuable tome for many trine if it was for research purposes. skekEz was just glad skekFik haven't yet moved to research topics that aligned with his field of expertise. He liked the Writer, but he'd get annoyed if he had to wait for a book longer than he should.

skekEz shook his head and shrugged, making all the beads and tiny bells sewn on the layers of his robes in intricate patterns of stars, sigils and diagrams sway and chime. Thinking of this right now wasn't a good idea. He was nearing the spring, and just in time, because the heat provided by the Three Brothers was becoming a bit hard on him.

He could hear the Podling walking at a respectful distance behind him and carrying his bathing gear. It was a female - probably - and he considered her his personal servant, because she was the one who brought him food and drinks when he was spending long nights observing the stars.

Well, he could leave astronomy to skekZok, but who could trust the idiot to make proper use of the knowledge acquired during the countless hours when the Three Sisters shone down on Thra. Everyone knew that the Ritual Master was barely smart enough to perform a few ceremonies and predict one celestial occurrence. One could argue that predicting the Great Conjunction was the most important one, but skekEz could find much more in the enthralling dance of the celestial objects.

Sadly, skekZok had the Emperor's ear more often than himself. As it often was, the enlightened one was shunned and his wisdom belittled by others - until the mundane ways of doing things failed them and they had to turn to him and cower at his feet, asking for his aid. Or if he got annoyed enough to put a Curse of Indigestion on them.

He crossed the last line of thick shrubbery that surrounded the hot spring and provided some privacy. It was a second later when he realized that by doing this he accidentally imposed on another's privacy. He stopped in his tracks, his beak slightly open as he laid his eyes on another, who was sitting on a small stone bench in the steaming water.

Between clouds of steam, partially obscuring the view, a shape of a naked beauty of flesh could be seen. The air was saturated by the scent of flowers - skekEz could see the surface of the whole spring basically blanketed by colorful petals. He inhaled deeply and almost purred at the divine scent radiating from the one in the hot spring. It wasn't his usual smell, it was more spicy and heavy.

Water droplets were glistening on the heavy coat of fur and feathers that shimmered in various colors and hues blending together in a pure perfection. Long lashes brushed the cheeks of skekEkt, his eyes closed, his head tilted back. His beak, painted with seductive red today, was parted, his tongue hanging out and swaying as he sighed and panted. His body was supple and looked smoother than any silk, his tail arched in a graceful way, swaying delicately in a hypnotizing way.

Even skekEz, master of hypnosis, was charmed by the sight of the little bow tied around the base of the tuff of hair.

A wave of heat and want moved through skekEz's veins.

One of his secondary hands was caressing his belly just above the surface of the water while his primary hand ducked underneath it, finding another spot to linger on and caress. It was moving at a much faster pace than the one that drew lazy patterns on his belly, making the flower petals near the skeksis move as the water under them rippled in concentric waves. His remaining hands roamed freely the expanse of his body, massaging a breast or running red painted claws down his side.

skekEz was unable to turn his eyes away, bewitched by the sight in front of him.

Oh, yes, the crystal runes were right - going to the hot spring today was a very lucky thing.

It was hard to name the feeling he harbored toward the Ornamentalist  
metalist anything more than a crush - using a Gelfling terminology - but right now he also felt something new stirring inside him. Well, it wasn't the first time he felt this burning desire to reach his claws and run them down the other's skin, to entwine their tails in a passionate union of pleasure, to find completion within his embrace.

He had almost forgotten the feeling of lust that sometimes swept over him when he saw skekEkt, especially in such a vulnerable state.

Not even for a moment he thought it was wrong to watch the other please himself in the hot spring. It was hard to imagine that skekEkt haven't noticed his presence already - and since he didn't ask him to leave, skekEz wasn't going to.

Instead of leaving he wanted to just shed his robes and join the other in the warm water, remind himself about things he had almost forgotten over the passing trine. His long tongue darted out to lick his beak. Oh, the sudden urge to touch and rediscover, to claim and be claimed, for a few brief moments in their immortal existence forget about things other than the white hot pleasure given and taken - shared between two.

Suddenly the vibrant blue eyes opened and looked straight at him.. One of the hands moved away from the scrumptious body. His other limbs never stopped their lustful movements and it was clear in skekEkt's face that he craved more than just the touch of his own fingers.

"Well, Ez? Care to join me?" he asked with a sensual smile. "Don't make me wait here."


End file.
